Infamous-but-now-going-legit P2P file-sharing company BitTorrent has acquired µTorrent, a smaller, more compact implementation of the BitTorrent protocol, which is used for sharing large files (read video) over the Internet. The upshot: BitTorrent, which has already struck deals with Hollywood studios for film distribution over the Internet, will now be able to target smaller devices with less processing power and memory than a PC (read set-top box devices.)
The notion that BitTorrent can leverage its technology to deliver video over the Internet (or any other IP-based platform) to TV sets is reinforced by rival Azureus’ recent $12 million venture capital infusion, which included as a participant TV programming veteran Jarl Mohn who is currently Chairman of CNET but former CEO of Liberty Digital and E! Entertainment Television. Azureus just launched a high-def digital media distribution platform called Zudeo and says it will announce a string of major media deals in the coming weeks.
But naysayer-on-the-spot Mark Cuban, who is also the Chairman of HDNet, pooh-poohs the idea that BitTorrent’s latest acquisition will give it the ability to power P2P content delivery to TVs. In a series of email exchanges with Wired News’ Scott Gilbertson, Cuban said that mass deployment of BitTorrent won’t work.
“Nonevent,” Cuban wrote of BitTorrent’s acquisition of µTorrent (pronounced “micro torrent”), the lightweight client that presumably can fit anywhere — and take BitTorrent everywhere.
“I think P2P is great for corporate and controlled apps, but not for open distribution,” he continued. “P2P has content-distribution capabilities, (but) mass distribution of content isn’t one of them.”
I don’t know about that. P2P has always offered the possiblity of solving a lot of point-to-point distribution problems faced by cable, phone companies and other TV distributors. But, two things have stood in the way (aside from P2P’s reputation as a tool for piracy). First, most P2P transmissions rely on the open Internet. Traffic on the open Internet is often unreliable and can mar transmissions, something that cable companies can’t accept if they’re selling dependable service. Secondly, P2P code won’t work on current generation set-top boxes.
Now, if BitTorrent can make its software work on existing set-top boxes, the other technical hurdle could be easily solved by storing content on local servers…just an idea.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:52 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Authoritarian regimes crack down on freedom of the press and, according to a study by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPS), it doesn’t matter whether the printing press involves paper and ink or pixels and computer screens. According to CPJ’s annual census of imprisoned journalists, as of December 1, there were 134 journalists in prison around the globe, up nine from the previous census. These statistics reflect a snapshot of the journalists imprisoned as of December 1. They don’t reflect the dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of other journalists jailed and released throughout the year.
The number of journalists imprisoned for work they made available on the Internet is rapidly rising - 49 of all the imprisoned journalists were jailed because of work appearing primarily on the Web, via e-mail, or in another electronic form, up from 41 as of the last census and the highest number ever.
China and Cuba are the two worst offenders but the U.S. has nothing to be proud of either. Among the imprisoned journalists are U.S. video blogger Joshua Wolf, who refused to give a grand jury his footage of a 2005 protest against a G-8 economic summit.
In addition, two journalists have been imprisoned by the U.S. without even the benefit of due process. AP photographer Bilal Hussein has been held in prison in Iraq for eight months now with no charges filed or trial scheduled. Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj has been held in jail for five years and is now imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with no charges filed or trial pending.
The rise in Internet journalists jailed reflects how insecure the governments are where journalists are punished for what they write, capture on video or photograph.
“I refer to the freedom of the press as the canary in the coal mine,” said Joshua Friedman, director of international programs at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. “It’s a barometer of the insecurity of the people running these governments. One of the things that makes them insecure these days is the power of the Internet.”
The other factor: journalists are increasingly turning to the web to circumvent traditional state controls. It’s a lot easier to bypass the usual print and TV censorship bureaucracy on the Internet.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 8:23 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Blogs We Read
